Pure light gathered and compressed in Edward's palm, radiating an aura utterly at odds with the blood-soaked warehouse.
It was neither hot nor violent, yet it carried an absolute authority to judge the very essence of evil.
Art, the Soul-Severing Clown, had been clowning around with a balloon. He seemed to sense the threat. His ridiculous hopping stopped, and he tilted his head. For the first time, his vacant gaze shifted from Edward to the light in his palm.
"Game over." Edward's voice held no warmth.
As the words left his mouth, he thrust out his hand. Purifying Light became a beam of pure white that made no sound as it swallowed Art whole.
Sssss!
A teeth-grating hiss rose, like a wet towel thrown into boiling oil.
Art twisted violently inside the beam. His black-and-white clown suit dissolved first, turning into wisps of black smoke.
Then came the body beneath, made of some unknown substance. Under the purifying light, he was like snow beneath a blazing sun. His outer layer rapidly vaporized, exposing something darker and more viscous within.
He made no scream. He had no vocal cords.
But his painted grin contorted under the light, stretching and compressing as though he were performing a silent pantomime of unbearable pain.
Expressionless, Edward poured in more power.
He could feel it: this power of purification was the bane of beings like Art.
The beam blazed brighter, lighting the dim warehouse like daylight.
At the warehouse entrance, Tara and Dewen had just reached the door in their attempt to escape. The sudden glare forced their eyes shut.
Peering through their fingers, they watched in horror as the clown's figure at the center of the beam grew transparent bit by bit, then vanished completely.
The light faded.
All that remained on the warehouse floor was a slightly blackened scorch mark.
The Soul-Severing Clown who had brought such hellish terror—and the garbage bag full of weapons he carried—had been vaporized without a trace, as though he had never existed.
Even the heavy stench of blood in the air seemed to have thinned beneath that sacred power.
"That's it?"
Edward lowered his hand and stared at the empty floor, a flicker of surprise stirring in him.
He had expected a fierce fight. He hadn't expected so little resistance.
Apart from that uncanny ability to survive death, the so-called demon had been helpless against Purification Power.
What good was rapid recovery if Edward tore him out by the roots and erased him at the conceptual level? How could he come back from that?
The thought had barely crossed his mind.
"Look out!"
"Behind you!"
Two hoarse screams, thick with terror, came from the warehouse entrance. Tara and Dewen.
Edward's combat instincts were etched into his bones. His body reacted before his mind could give the order.
He spun, his right leg whipping backward like a steel lash with a shriek of displaced air.
Thud!
A dull impact rang out.
His foot struck something solid.
The force of the kick sent the figure that had appeared behind him flying before he could react. He slammed into the distant wall of shipping containers with a thunderous crash.
Edward steadied himself and looked at what he had kicked away.
The familiar black-and-white clown suit. The painted grin. The little black top hat.
It was Art, the Soul-Severing Clown.
He slid down the wall without a scratch, stood as though nothing had happened, and even brushed nonexistent dust from his clothes.
For the first time, surprise showed on Edward's face.
How?
He had clearly sensed Art's existence being erased by Purification Power. Not a trace had remained.
This wasn't regeneration or resurrection.
It was more like... a respawn.
Like a monster in a game reappearing at its spawn point after being killed.
Art gave him little time to think.
Edward's speed seemed to have caught his interest. He abandoned the two easy prey by the door and set off toward Edward again, one strange step at a time.
"Interesting."
Edward's curiosity stirred.
He decided to run an experiment and work out how this monster functioned.
As Art approached, Edward raised both guns again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
This time, every shot had a purpose. Bullets from Ebony and Ivory blasted Art's left arm, right leg, and most of his torso into chunks, splattering thick black fluid across the floor. Edward deliberately left his right arm and the half of his chest attached to his head intact.
Sure enough, the scattered chunks wriggled a few times, then went still and dissolved into puddles of black liquid. What remained of Art's body multiplied and writhed like a living tumor. Within two or three seconds, he was whole again.
So regeneration centers on the largest remaining piece, Edward realized.
Then what happens if I destroy him completely?
Edward extended his right hand again, gathering purifying light in his palm. This time, he carefully controlled its reach, vaporizing 99.9 percent of Art's body. He left only a twitching little finger in a white glove on the floor.
A horrifying sight followed.
The finger swelled like a balloon being inflated and changed shape. Flesh, bone, and clothing formed from nothing. In a single breath, a complete Art had "grown" from that tiny piece.
He stood, looked down at his new body, then at Edward. His grin widened.
Edward frowned.
He understood.
As long as even the smallest scrap of "information" remained, the monster could use it to regenerate without limit.
"Then I'll erase one hundred percent."
Edward took a deep breath and stopped holding back.
Purifying Light erupted for the third time, forming a huge sphere that engulfed Art.
This time, Edward used Telekinesis EX to lock down every inch of space Art occupied, ensuring his total annihilation with no blind spots.
When the light faded, Art was gone again.
Edward swept his senses through the entire warehouse, missing not a single corner.
One second.
Two seconds.
Just as Edward thought he had finally succeeded, pure malice flared without warning from a beam beneath the warehouse roof.
Art appeared out of thin air. Hanging upside down like a spider, he silently watched Edward below.
Death meant nothing to this monster.
Destroying him completely only triggered his respawn, returning him in perfect condition at any nearby location.
Leaving part of him intact, on the other hand, forced him to regenerate where he was.
He could not be killed.
He was a "phenomenon" that existed solely to spread fear and torment.
"What a troublesome piece of trash."
Edward had lost patience with the game. If he couldn't kill Art, he would deal with him another way.
Ignoring Art on the beam, he turned to the two girls by the door, who were on the verge of breaking down. "Find me a bottle. Any bottle."
Tara and Dewen froze. They didn't understand why, but their instinct to survive sent them digging frantically through the rubbish near the entrance.
Soon, Dewen scrambled over with a dusty glass soda bottle and offered it to Edward with trembling hands.
Edward took the bottle and glanced at it.
Art jumped down from the beam. He seemed fascinated by the bottle in Edward's hand and approached one step at a time, head tilted.
Edward set the bottle on the floor beside his foot, then looked up at the approaching clown.
"Come on. I'll show you a magic trick."
His hands flashed through several strange signs before his chest. An ancient, profound aura rose from him, utterly unlike the purifying Holy Light.
"Evil—Containment—Wave!"
With that low shout, Edward thrust both hands forward.
A spiraling beam of green energy burst from his palms and became a vast vortex, engulfing Art as he approached.
Art seemed stunned. A powerful pull he could not resist seized his body.
For the first time, his strange steps stopped. He struggled, but his uncanny powers seemed useless against energy made specifically for sealing.
His body stretched and twisted. Even his painted grin warped into a ridiculous spiral.
The green vortex contracted rapidly with Art trapped inside it, heading straight for the little glass soda bottle on the floor.
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